Lens for K10D

I am going to order a K10D as soon as I decide which lens I am going to purchase. I really do not want to go with a kit, unless that is recommended. I shoot portraits, motion and landscapes. What type of lens is available for the K10D that is the all around most practical. I was looking at the Limited lenses for sharpness and detail.

I am going to order a K10D as soon as I decide which lens I am going to purchase. I really do not want to go with a kit, unless that is recommended. I shoot portraits, motion and landscapes. What type of lens is available for the K10D that is the all around most practical. I was looking at the Limited lenses for sharpness and detail.

EAD Studios

I am happy with my DA* 16-50. My copy seems to be one of the better ones. The range is nice, the f/2.8 is good. As you see in my sig, I have the 12-24 as well, and it is superb for landscape work. For portraits, I have used my DA* 50-135 the one time I did a shoot since I got it, and am very pleased with the results.

The two DA* lenses are weather proof, and with the weather proof body, these are great for outdoor use. They give me the 35mm equivalent of 24 - 200 mm in two lenses, with excellent image quality.

I am going to order a K10D as soon as I decide which lens I am going to purchase. I really do not want to go with a kit, unless that is recommended. I shoot portraits, motion and landscapes. What type of lens is available for the K10D that is the all around most practical. I was looking at the Limited lenses for sharpness and detail.

EAD Studios

Limiteds are nice (so say those that have one :-) but you will need at least 2 of them. Something wide for landscape, and one longer for portraits. If you get 2, you might as well get 3 of them.

Or, the Sigma 17-70 zoom which is wide enough and long enough to get you by until your budget and research allows you to make other choices.

I think thats a really difficult decision. The 31 transforms to an excellent "normal-lens on the K10D and the 77 is an amazing lens for portraits or sports.
Have you thought about the DA-Limiteds?? I mean the DA40 and the DA70. That are very nice lenses, too. I love my DA40.

Well, it will depend on your intended use. By the way, all of the Pentax FA and DA primes are very good lenses as are most of the manual focus A,M, and K series. I started out as an all prime shooter. I'd carry 2 bodies and a bag full of primes with me. That got old pretty quick. My basic field kit now consists of high quality zooms, the DA 10-17, Tamron 28-75, and the Sigma 70-200 EX. These 3 lenses are supplemented with 1 or 2 primes, depending on what I intend to shoot.

My studio work, is all primes. I use the 77 limited for Head and Shoulders portraits, the FA 50 f1.4 for 1/2-3/4 length, or small groups, and the FA35 f2.0 for full length portraits, and other general studio work. I am finding that both the 50, and 35 are a touch to long for their use - my studio is not that big. I'm thinking of replacing them with the 43 limited and the 31 limited, to get a touch more working room.

I shoot mostly portraits and mostly indoors. I have the kit lens 18-55mm which I've not used since I bought the FA 35 f2 and FA 50mm f1.4. Recently, I just bought the FA 77mm f1.8 which is really nice to use outdoors.

Everytime, I think of getting a zoom for the convenience I ended getting another prime! I just love prime lenses. I guess I won't miss the zoom unless I am on holidays and need to shoot a variety of things.

For a "walkabout" lens, I think I will either get the Sigma 17-70 or Tamron 28-75. For me either one would cover the range that I normally shoot in very nicely. The Tamron would probably be my preference since I prefer fixed aperture since I am indoors most of the time.